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Larry's LogThe ship tour was fantastic. Although there were no planes on board except for one jet "for show" and 2 helos (helicopters), the various parts of the ship were very interesting. We went to the bridge and the air control room, as well as the hangar and flight decks. The size is just incredible. We also noticed crews with Kevlar helmets and jackets at the four corners of the flight deck armed with machine guns, a new security measure instituted because of the USS Cole. Some of the highlights were the Bridge, the Officers Wardroom and the best was the Combat Room. A sailor we just happened to meet as we leaving asked us if we liked the tour and of course we said yes. He then asked if we had seen the Combat Room and we said no. "Let's see it," he said and we enthusiastically followed. You needed a special combination to get in. It wasn't as modern as what you might see on a TV aircraft carrier, but it was IMPRESSIVE. It was a darkened room with monitors and special readouts arranged at several stations. He then showed us a room off the main room that was slightly smaller but with the same feel. He said there were some instruments in there that he could not describe because they were classified. No problem, I don't think I want to know! As we left, we felt really good about how these kind people had shown us the ship, and somehow felt a little more secure knowing they were there. Going back on the bus, and back to reality, we stopped at ACE Hardware to get a replacement for the dinghy lock and cable, only this time we buy chain. By this time, getting on toward the end of February, we started to feel like it was time to leave St. Maarten. But we had a decision to make. Diane's cousin and her husband were coming to Antigua to meet us on March 8, but I was still thinking about trying to get on a race boat for the Heineken Regatta, which started March 2 and lasted 3 days. Theoretically, we could stay and still have time to get to Antigua. Of course, that would mean going in possibly less than ideal weather. I figured it should only take about 15 to 18 hours to get to Jolly Harbour in Antigua from St. Maarten, so we could afford to wait a day or two after the regatta ended for good weather. OK, lets see if I can get on a boat! Diane also volunteered to sell T-shirts for the SMYC, the organizers of the event. And she started doing this the day after we visited Big John (the crew's nickname for the USS JFK) while I, of course, did boat chores. The next few days I'm occupied with getting as much done on the boat as possible so when the regatta is over we're, more or less, ready to leave. Oil and filter change, heat exchanger zinc, clean the water strainer, among others. Diane is busy selling. She also does some provisioning since St. Martin is MUCH less expensive than Antigua or any other island until we reach Trinidad. So she buys cases of beer (Heineken of course) and other necessities. Of course, boat work doesn't interfere with cocktails at sundown, a cruisers tradition that I would be loath to ignore. The Heineken Regatta is one of the premier racing events in the Caribbean, probably second only to Antigua Sailing Week. It brings in over 200 boats and some of the biggest names in sailing. Dennis Connor, Gary Jobson and Lowell North are just some of the past participants. Of course I don't expect to sail on their boats, those crews practice for months before as a team and are usually professionals, but just the chance to be on the same racecourse is a thrill. Particularly when they sail in some of the best new racing machines around, like Sagamore and Donnybrook. This year, there were 250 boats from all over the world participating in 19 classes. I was lucky enough to be asked to race on a friend's boat, Mistral, a Beneteau 35, by Carson Smith. Carson is a singlehander who has been throughout the Caribbean and raced successfully in a number of big regattas. He's also young and single (ladies take note!). Then of course, there are the parties. There were several the week before the regatta, one just for the volunteers and others for folks in general. I had joined a writers group the week before that met every Wednesday at the Lagoonies restaurant. Ken on Great White Wonder convinced me to join since I had something published before (2 book reviews in the magazine "Good Old Boat") and since I was doing this web site. It was also a fun group of people and we would read pieces aloud that were sometimes very good. The day of the volunteer party, I met someone at the group who was having a problem with SSB email. Since I had the same system, I offered to try to help. I went over later to Ciao Moody and looked at his system. The PC was OK and the software (Airmail 2.13) was setup correctly. The cable connecting the modem to the PC seemed OK and the cable from the radio to the modem (really a terminal node controller, TNC) seemed OK, but the modem wouldn't send proper control signals to the radio. The radio was tuned to the proper frequency and we could hear other people connecting, and indeed, I had connected just the night before. We tried in vain to reset the parameters on the modem but for some reason we were unable to. The unit was purchased in the Canary Islands through a dealer there that may have modified it to work "only" with his equipment. After spending about 2 hours looking up the right parameters and trying to set them, Diane came over and said we had to leave to get to the party. Since we weren't getting anywhere, I said the best course of action was to try to contact the modem manufacturer and see if they could help. I later learned, after seeing them again in Antigua, that SCS, the modem manufacturer had tried to help by sending a file that should have reset the modem settings but that it failed also. They were going to send him a new unit. I didn't feel so bad after that. The day before the regatta started, I managed to bring my logs for the web more up to date and checked email that doesn't go directly to the boat. I also downloaded our bank and credit card statements so Diane, my accountant, could verify and reconcile all our charges. We've spent a lot of money so far, but much of it were expenses that won't (hopefully) be repeated, like the new stanchions to replace the ones we bent going through the Gulf Stream and the new laptop. We surprisingly have spent a lot of food, although it really doesn't seem like it. Less than we would ordinarily do at home, but more than I thought since Diane has so many provisions on board already. Not to worry, she'll do a thorough analysis and we'll see where it went. That night was also the first of the "official" Heineken parties. It was on the beach facing Simpson Bay and there was a huge stage setup for bands that played almost all night. We went to the party after Diane finshed doing her volunteering at the SMYC. The boats were anchored in the bay and the sight of the anchor lights was like so many hundreds of stars swaying to the wind. A beautiful sight. We didn't stay too long but long enough to enjoy some of the "official" brew. |